Fender Strat Plus

About the Fender Strat Plus

The Strat Plus arrived in 1987, directly continuing the reputation-repair project that had produced the American Standard Stratocaster just one year earlier under Fender's new post-CBS ownership. One source describes it plainly as a very good attempt to reclaim Fender USA's floundering reputation - and its positioning backs that up: this was the highest-end production model Fender offered, sitting directly below the fully custom-order Custom Shop. The 'Plus' designation referred to three specific upgrades layered onto the American Standard platform rather than a ground-up redesign: Lace Sensor pickups, a roller nut, and locking tuners. The Lace Sensors, standard as the Gold variant, used a patented radiant field barrier system surrounding both coil and magnets to cancel 60-cycle hum, paired with Micro Matrix Combs replacing traditional bobbins for a wider tonal range and better string-to-string balance - genuinely novel pickup engineering rather than a cosmetic variant of existing single coils. The roller nut eliminated the need for string trees and improved tuning stability under tremolo use, though its design matured visibly over the model's run: early Wilkinson-type versions had floating strings on the top three positions, and later Wilkinson iterations required feeding strings through dual pins in a way that caused problems with heavier gauges, before superior LSR roller nuts with individual bearings per string arrived by mid-1993. Later production years also introduced Hot Gold Lace pickups for more output while retaining vintage character, and a Dually configuration pairing two Lace Sensors side by side on certain signature variants. Production ran for twelve years, ending in late 1998 or early 1999.

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Sound character of the Fender Strat Plus

Gold Lace Sensors are described as delivering a 1950s single-coil sound with plenty of chime and even, bell-like tones - a deliberately vintage-rooted voicing engineered specifically to arrive without the 60-cycle hum that plagues traditional single coils of that era's character. The TBX tone control adds active treble-cut shaping without the bass buildup a standard passive tone pot introduces, giving players a more surgical way to dial back brightness than the guitar's fundamental pickup voicing alone would allow.

What owners of the Fender Strat Plus say

Collectors and players speak of the TBX tone control on this model with something bordering on nostalgia, describing it as famed and now hard to find - a sign of how distinctive this control felt even within Fender's own catalog. The roller nut's generational improvement is a well-known, practically relevant detail among owners: buyers actively seek out the mid-1993-and-later LSR versions over the earlier Wilkinson-type units specifically because of documented string-handling issues with heavier gauges on the older design.

Playability & handling of the Fender Strat Plus

The roller nut's core benefit was real and practical - better tuning stability under active tremolo use, without needing string trees - but its execution improved noticeably across the model's lifespan. Buyers of vintage examples should know that pre-1993 Wilkinson-type roller nuts can present genuine string-feeding issues with heavier gauges, while the LSR roller nuts from mid-1993 onward resolved that with individual bearings per string and notably easier string changes.

Recommended accessories & strings for the Fender Strat Plus

Standard 25.5-inch scale takes .009-.042 or .010-.046 sets equally well, though owners of early Wilkinson-type roller nut examples should be cautious with heavier gauges given the documented string-feeding issues on that specific hardware generation. The TBX tone control rewards active use in its upper range for treble-cut tonal shaping beyond a standard passive tone pot.

Technical data for the Fender Strat Plus

Price history for the Fender Strat Plus

Cheapest seen: 1.709 EUR  ·  Most expensive seen: 2.092 EUR

The history of the Fender Strat Plus

This guitar is best understood as the second act of Fender's post-CBS recovery, arriving just one year after the American Standard proved the new ownership could rebuild a credible flagship. Where the American Standard rebuilt the fundamentals - bridge, neck attachment, tone circuit - the Strat Plus pushed further, applying genuinely novel pickup engineering and hardware to create Fender's highest regular-production tier short of a full custom order. That the Lace Sensor technology introduced here went on to become the standard pickup choice on signature Stratocasters for players like Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Buddy Guy speaks to how seriously the format was taken within Fender's own product hierarchy, even if those specific artists are associated with the pickup technology and their own signature models rather than documented use of the Strat Plus itself. The model's twelve-year run, ending around 1998-99, makes it a substantial chapter in Fender's late-1980s and 1990s USA lineup rather than a brief experiment.

About Fender as a manufacturer

Built at Fender's Corona, California plant as the company's highest regular-production tier below the Custom Shop, a deliberate showcase for new pickup and hardware engineering during the ownership's post-CBS effort to rebuild Fender's reputation for serious build quality.

Notable players & recordings featuring the Fender Strat Plus

Gold Lace Sensor pickups - the same technology fitted to the Strat Plus - became the pickup of choice for years on the signature Stratocasters of Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Buddy Guy. That's a genuine association with the pickup technology and nameplate rather than verified evidence these artists played the Strat Plus production model itself, a distinction worth keeping clear.